Nigel Farage (left) flagged a visa racket allegedly masterminded by OPM official Neville Gafa

Outspoken British MEP and former UKIP leader Nigel Farage has questioned whether Malta has sold EU visas to terrorists in Libya as an alleged racket continues to make international waves.

“Outrageous that the Maltese are selling EU visas in Libya,” Farage tweeted. “How many ISIS supporters are among that number?”

Farage was reacting to a hard-hitting speech at the European Parliament by Slovak MEP Branislav Škripek yesterday, in which he flagged how the Maltese Consulate in Tripoli could have sold 88,000 Schengen visas to Libyans back in 2013-14.

Official statistics show that Malta only issued 33,619 visas to Libyans in 2013, but transcripts filed in court this week by Alleanza Bidla leader Ivan Grech Mintoff allege the number is closer to 88,000.

Parliamentary secretary for citizenship Julia Farrugia Portelli responded to Farage’s tweet by pointing out show that Malta has the highest visa refusal rate out of all 26 Schengen countries, rejecting 25% of all applications filed.

“Nigel Farage, the number of visas is actually much, much less than you quoted,” she said. “In reality, Malta has a stringent process in place to deal with applications and currently has the. highest visa refusal rate within the EU. We should remember that international terrorism is a serious issue.”

In a hefty court dossier, Grech Mintoff detailed how the racket at the Maltese Consulate in Tripoli was allegedly carried out by Neville Gafa – an aide at the Prime Minister’s Office. The dossier also states that the Consulate could have sold an unknown number of medical visas to Libyans, when these should have been given out for free.

Gafa, who denies all the accusations, allegedly stood to pocket several thousands of euro from the racket.

Grech Mintoff said five Libyans, who he mentioned by name, were willing to testify in a Maltese court that Gafa had asked them for money in exchange for visas but were afraid that the Maltese authorities could respond by revoking their visas.

Alleanza Bidla leader Ivan Grech Mintoff

“As the formal issuers of the visas, the Maltese authorities could easily revoke their visa and would be right – legally – to do so, based on these witnesses’ own admission of their method of obtaining the visas,” the document reads. “The witnesses would need some for of guarantee before giving their testimony,”

According to Grech Mintoff’s document, the police have been informed of these five witnesses but have not yet contacted them.

“Grech Mintoff worked with refugees who drew his attention to the trafficking of Schengen visas,” said MEP Branislav Škripek, as cited by the TASR news agency. “If you paid more, you were given a visa without any checks. Grech Mintoff approached me as chairman of the European Christian Political Movement and MEP to point this case out, as his life is in danger due to the revelations.”

Škripek waned that the racket could have resulted in terrorists obtaining Schengen visas, entering the EU and creating terror cells, and called on the European Commission to investigate the case and to take any appropriate action.

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Tim Diacono

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]